Canucks 4, Oilers 3
Sami Salo scored twice as the Vancouver Canucks spoiled rookie Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' first career hat trick in a 4-3 win over the host Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.
With the score tied and the crowd still buzzing over Nugent-Hopkins' performance, Salo and the Canucks spoiled the party with the eventual game-winner 7:47 into the third. Salo's wrist shot from point went through a crowd and slipped between Devan Dubnyk's right arm and his body.
Roberto Luongo held things down from there, stopping 27 shots to preserve his first win of the campaign.
After Salo opened the scoring 8:49 into the game, Edmonton responded less than five minutes later with its first power-play goal of the season. Eberle fed a cross-crease pass to Nugent-Hopkins, who took two whacks at the puck before sliding it past a sprawled Luongo.
The sure-handed 18-year-old was at it again with 29 seconds remaining in the period, tipping a Tom Gilbert point shot past Luongo to give the Oilers the lead.
Henrik Sedin tied things early in the second period, but Edmonton restored the two-goal lead on Nugent-Hopkins' third of the night at 16:37. With three Oilers on the edge of the crease in a mad scramble, Nugent-Hopkins swatted a trickling puck past a fallen Luongo.
Vancouver evened the score with 16 seconds remaining in the period after Daniel Sedin's centering pass deflected off Burrows' stick and in.